JAKE TAPPER: White House Denies Charge By Attorney that Administration Threatened to Destroy Investment Firm’s Reputation.

A leading bankruptcy attorney representing hedge funds and money managers told ABC News Saturday that Steve Rattner, the leader of the Obama administration’s Auto Industry Task Force, threatened one of the firms, an investment bank, that if it continued to oppose the administration’s Chrysler bankruptcy plan, the White House would use the White House press corps to destroy its reputation.

The White House said the story was false.

But read the whole thing, and decide who you believe for yourself. And good for Jake Tapper for looking into this.

UPDATE: Don Surber is not buying the denial.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Neither is reader Tom McCobb: “Bill Burton’s protest that ‘…there’s obviously no evidence to suggest that this happened in any way’ is so demonstrably false that it is a dead giveaway. There most certainly is evidence: Attorney Lauria’s assertions on radio and in print. The evidence might be only hearsay – we don’t know without knowing whether Mr. Lauria was present during the threatening conduct. But that is a only question of the weight to be given to Mr. Lauria’s assertions.”